Matt Weidner – Fighting For The American People

Posts Tagged ‘david stern’

MUST READ FROM 4ClosureFraud and Lynn Syzmoniak

This nation is collapsing under the weight of a flawed, fraudulent and criminal economic and political system. The epicenter is indeed Wall Street, that den of sin and inequity where the wealth and wages of an entire nation are sucked in and concentrated then swirled around before it all goes disappearing down some drain and flushed into a world unknown.

We don’t know where the money goes or why because the traders and the bankers and the hedge fund managers and executives consistently used a portion of their ill-earned gains to pay off the elected and appointed “leaders” and convince them either not to inquire where the money was going or to accept absurd and/or complex explanations that defy our understanding.  Geithner, Paulson, Bernake, Johnson, Bush, Bush, Clinton and every elected member of Congress and every elected official who sits in any seat in this country.  They are all responsible.  At some point in time perhaps some of them understood where this was going and what they were doing.  Hank Paulson spent his entire career at Goldman Sachs and Geithner was born, bred and baptized by the banks…no surprise that their worldview is entirely focused on supporting these institutions.

And what’s going on closer to home, down where all this trouble manifests itself in our daily lives?  More unemployment, extraordinary inflation, a further collapsing economy and all of this laid on top of a seething anger and discontent that is bubbling all across this country.  It is beyond dispute now that extraordinary abuses of our financial, economic and legal system were occurring all across this state….we see some people taking to the streets in New York.  But Florida?  It’s been years now since the public first learned of all the investigations.  And what has come of those investigations?  Nothing.  They all still walk free….it’s time to wake up.

A former colleague, friend and top manager of fallen foreclosure titan David J. Stern complains in a new deposition that she was laid off via email, lied to about her position in the law firm and ignored when she voiced concerns about the feverish pace at which foreclosures were processed.

Cheryl Samons, the former second-in-command of Stern’s Plantation-based firm, was deposed in April in relation to a class-action lawsuit filed by former Stern employees. The suit alleges workers were terminated last fall without the 60 days notice required by federal law .

A Miami federal judge approved class-action status for the case Monday.

The deposition, which was posted on a foreclosure defense attorney’s blog Thursday, offers some insight into how the firm grew to become the largest so-called “foreclosure mill” in the state before falling apart amid allegations of robo-signing and the announcement of the Florida attorney general’s investigation. Palm Beach Post

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris pulled out of settlement negotiations with the nation’s biggest banks over alleged foreclosure abuses, calling the proposed deal “inadequate for California homeowners.”

The decision by Ms. Harris delivers a serious blow to efforts by the Obama administration and 50 state attorneys general to forge a $25 billion settlement with the nation’s largest banks over “robo-signing” and other questionable foreclosure practices.

Her actions follow the withdrawal of New York from the talks. Without the participation of California and New York in the negotiations, banks will be far less likely to agree to the multibillion dollar settlement that federal and state officials have spent months pursuing.

California remained a critical constituent for any deal because it has more borrowers who are underwater, or owe more than their homes are worth, than any other state. California also has more borrowers that are behind on their mortgages or in foreclosure than any other state but Florida. Wall Street Journal

There is just so much that is disturbing in this country, in our communities and especially in our court systems. I used to live under the delusion that our courts were somehow above most of the fraud and corruption that exists in the larger world….that judges had the desire and the initiative to sniff out lies and fraud….and especially campaigns of long term and systemic fraud and abuses.

I remember after Florida’s Attorney General announced investigations into most of the foreclsoure mills operating in Florida thinking that surely, someone was going to step in and stand up for truth, for justice, for right and wrong….for the Rule of Law.  After the Florida Bar announced investigations into the crime scene that our courtrooms had become, I was certain that the curtain would be rolled back and the hammer would drop.  After Fannie Mae’s foreclosure baron David Stern just walked away from hundreds of thousands of cases pending in foreclosure courtrooms all across this state and after he was the target of one lawsuit after another, I thought, surely the Bar or someone might oh, I don’t know, swat him on the wrist.  Or at least take away the keys to one of his yachts or maybe take the keys to one of his many extraordinary vehicles…..but nothing has happened.

And it looks like nothing will happen.  So what exactly does this say about our country today?  And what does this say about where we are heading as a nation?

Read the Wall Street Journal Report 

This is some real good writing here folks:

It is universally understood that professionalism requires attorneys to
exercise restraint in the practice of law. Flame-throwing and hyperbole are frowned
upon, and this would seem to be especially true in appellate work. There are times,
however, when restraint and modulation seem to be at odds with the dedicated
attorney’s desire, and indeed obligation, to get his or her point across in an effective
manner.
In this case, the friction between orthodoxy and advocacy is ratcheted skyward
by the omnipresent and potentially prejudicial mischaracterizations of Appellant’s
case and legal theory contained in the district court’s dismissal order and the
Appellees’ brief. The polite language of the traditional legal lexicon would seem
inadequate to sufficiently express the degree of disapproval with which such
statements should rightly be received by any and all honorable courts, including the
one before whom Appellant is now privileged to press his cause. Whether the result
of intentional misdirection, or the subconsciously selective analysis of Appellant’s
case and pleadings, these false descriptions of Appellant’s claim are sorely in need
of repudiation by this Court. Justice demands nothing less.

figueroareply

I have moved to have three, count ‘em three, foreclosure sales set aside and canceled this week alone because of problems or irregularities with the foreclosure process. I give a lot of credit to one of the new foreclosure plaintiff firms in the state, Phelan Hallihan, for immediately recognizing a problem with one of their files and working very hard to help me make it right.  Incidentally, this was not a problem they created, rather a problem caused by foreclosure bad boy (still no punishment) David Stern. Most frustrating though, even though I’ve got this good firm working with me to do the right thing, I’m getting real resistance from the court about setting this sale aside.  The court did not grant my well-pleaded motion to cancel the sale and here we are two weeks later, with the support of the Plaintiff’s firm and still no Order.

The problem is our courts have become obsessed with numbers.  Clearing those cases, moving them along.  Granting judgments.  We need to help our courts understand that the numbers do not matter.  And to the extent our courts are focused on the numbers, we need to use the numbers of backlogged cases to demand proper funding from the legislature.

And mediation….more on mediation….we all need to redouble the efforts to focus in on mediation.  The mediation programs across the state have not been very successful, but we absolutely cannot give up on them.  I know lenders are frustrated at the perceived high cost, but if they kill the program, they’re going to live to regret it.  We all need to burrow down and use the mediation process to separate out the cases so we can focus on what must be the new plan to deal with Foreclosures in Florida:

Work through all non-homestead foreclosures first, then move on to homestead foreclosures!

That’s right, just think about it.  The Plaintiff mills have to focus on results for their investors and clients and they’re all focused on speed and clearance rates.  I think the servicers and the foreclosure firms should burrrow down and focus all their efforts where homeowners are not in the properties and leave homeowners alone to work with the servicer on mods for a few months.  Order an inspection, or get a certification and if it’s not homestead fast track it through!  As a m matter of fact, look at this:

702.065 Final judgment in uncontested proceedings where deficiency judgment waived; attorney’s fees when default judgment entered.—

But back to the issue at hand.  Courts must be more willing to cancel sales because there are problems out there caused by all the mess still clogging our court system…and the appellate court spoke and said:

(“In circumstances such as these where the moving party’s allegations raise a colorable entitlement to rule 1.540(b)(3) relief, a formal evidentiary hearing on the motion, as well as permissible discovery prior to the hearing, is required.”).

NOVASTAR V. BUCKNOR

It has been more than one year and still no one. no one. no one. has dared to turn this rock over and consider what it means.  I’ve just sat on my hands with this one.  I’ve been waiting, hoping, praying that someone would dig into this.  Some bright and ambitious reporter.  Some elected leader with some sense of perspective.  Anyone.  But no.  Here we are more than a year and not a single drop of ink.  Not a single pixel on a blog or online story anywhere.

I’ve done the best I can do, for now……

“We were incorporated in the British Virgin Islands on February 19, 2008 under the name “Chardan 2008 China Acquisition Corp.” as a blank check company for the purpose of acquiring, engaging in a merger or share exchange with, purchasing all or substantially all of the assets of, or engaging in a contractual control arrangement or any other similar transaction with an unidentified operating business which has its principal business and/or material operations in China. When the global financial crisis occurred soon after the completion of Chardan 2008’s initial public offering in August 2008, Chardan 2008’s management believed that US equity markets would be less receptive to a transaction with a Chinese company. “

sternprospectus